Sunan Abi Dawud
Sunan Abi Dawud 545
Arabic hadith text
حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ الْجَوْهَرِيُّ، أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ جُرَيْجٍ، عَنْ مُوسَى بْنِ عُقْبَةَ، عَنْ سَالِمٍ أَبِي النَّضْرِ، قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم حِينَ تُقَامُ الصَّلاَةُ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ إِذَا رَآهُمْ قَلِيلاً جَلَسَ لَمْ يُصَلِّ وَإِذَا رَآهُمْ جَمَاعَةً صَلَّى .
Translation
ʿAbd Allah ibn Ishaq al-Jawhari informed us: Abu ʿAsim informed us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Musa ibn ʿUqbah, from Salim Abu al-Nadr, who said: When the prayer was established in the mosque, if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that they were few, he would sit and not pray; when he saw a congregation, he would pray.